For years now, corporations have celebrated Black History Month. However, in the past, those celebrations weren’t followed with equitable pay, promotions, and policies. To date, there have only been 19 Black CEOs leading the Fortune 500 and even now there’s only one Black woman CEO in the Fortune 500.  What’s more, although Black computer science graduates make up roughly 6% of CS grads, Black techies only make up 1% of tech employees at top companies.  

This year feels different, though. As we approach Black History Month in 2021, Chief Diversity Officers are the fastest growing C-level position and 96% of CEOs now say that diversity and inclusion is a top priority. With equality and diversity top of mind, we’re hopeful to see more organizations embracing Black professionals as the highly educated, talented, ambitious, and career-focused professionals they are, and taking major steps to advancing Black success at work.  

With that, we’re thrilled to announce our upcoming Twitter chat themed: Black Success at Work. Please join us on Twitter at the hashtag #Fairygodboss on February 23rd from 1 to 2pm EST for our Black History Month Twitter chat celebration! 

Check out the questions we’ll be answering during the chat below. 

Black History Month Twitter Chat Questions

1. Black women have been hit the hardest by the crisis of last year and COVID. How can we address that newly exacerbated disparity to improve conditions for Black professionals? 

2. Research is clear - one size fits all doesn’t work in hiring. With that in mind, what are you doing to attract Black talent to your organization? 

3. Black professionals, especially Black women, aren’t provided with the same access to workplace resources. What are you doing to invest in and promote in Black talent? 

4. How are Black leaders and professionals using their voices to advocate for change within the organization?

5. With everything going on in the world today, it can be hard to flip a switch and show up to work as our best. How is leadership making sure that the ongoing social, political, and racial turmoil is not causing internal struggles at work?

6. Now let’s talk about hiring. As a Black woman or professional, what was your experience like as a job seeker? What influenced your job search decision? What were you looking for? 

7. Who is a Black professional that you know that excels above and beyond in their role? Tag them!

What You Need To Know About Twitter Chats

What is a Twitter chat? 

Twitter chats are live events that take place at a specific date and time at a specific location, which is the hashtag. Twitter chats are moderated by a “host,” which is the person/account who is tweeting the questions. These events are typically themed and follow a Q&A style format, during which the host posts questions from their account and participants answer the questions from their own accounts. Sometimes, the host will invite special guests who are usually subject matter experts to help guide the conversation and add in expert insights. 

For Fairygodboss’ Black History Month chat, the hashtag is #Fairygodboss and the chat will take place on February 23rd from 1 to 2pm EST. Questions will be tweeted from @Fairygodboss, and our special guests are Fairygodboss employees who are so excited to talk about Black Success at Work! 

Who can join a Twitter chat?

Anyone with a Twitter account can join a Twitter chat! Chats are moderated by a “host” and then guests and participants can answer questions and engage in lively conversations using the designated hashtag. 

How to participate in a Twitter chat? 

Because Twitter chats are live events, they should be attended in real time. At the time of the chat, participants can attend by logging into Twitter, typing the Twitter chat hashtag into the search bar, and then clicking “latest tweets.”  From there, watch for questions from the host and respond accordingly. 

Hosts posts questions one at a time and leave time in between for participants to respond. The host will start each question with “Q1.” or “Q2.” to designate that the tweet is sharing a question (Q) and then question number. Each question will end with the chat hashtag so participants can locate the Tweet. 

After questions are posted, participants can answer questions starting with “A1.” or “A2.” indicating that the tweet is answering (A) the respective question (numbered As). Like the host, each tweet should end with the chat hashtag so other participants can find and engage with the tweets. 

In summary, all tweets for the chat should include the event hashtag. Think of the hashtag as the event location. Even more, if you cannot make the chat in real time, you can still read the conversations after the event by searching the hashtag and reading the tweets!

Meet Your Hosts

The chat host will be @Fairygodboss, which means that the questions will come from @Fairygodboss on Twitter. We are thrilled to be joined by several special guests, our very own FGBers! 

Special Guests 

In addition to @Fairygodboss hosting, diversity hiring subject matter experts will be guiding the conversation from their own accounts, which you can find below. Please make sure to follow and engage with our special guests throughout the chat! 

		Aisha Alleyne @AishaAAlleyne Account Executive
		Anne Moise    @AnneMtweetss  Client Marketing Manager
		Jim Alouidor  @AlouidorJim  Sales Development Representative
		Kiaya Bishop  @DiversifyChamp  Senior Account Executive
		Kofi Taylor-Hayford  @ExpertDiversity Account Executive
		Melina Owusu  @melspeakstruth  Sales Development Representative
		Quin Sanford  @QuinSayss  Sales Development Representative
		Sharon Abbas @abbas_sharon  Brand Strategist

If you don’t want to wait until the chat to learn more about how women - especially Balck and Women of Color - search for and evaluate jobs, schedule a 15-minute consultation with our experts today. 

About Fairygodboss

Fairygodboss is the largest career community for women, and the place where millions of women are finding their next job. Through our career community, job board, employee reviews, curated content, and hiring events, Fairygodboss helps organizations enhance their employer brand and develop diversity-focused recruitment marketing to attract, engage, and hire more women - especially in hard-to-fill technology roles.

Founded in 2015 and based in NYC, Fairygodboss has helped more than 150 enterprise organizations diversify candidate pipelines and achieve diversity hiring goals. As of 2020, Fairygodboss has 9 million women job seekers each year. See why organizations like Apple, Johnson & Johnson, Home Depot, and Deloitte have chosen FGB today.